


TREASURE I: spread my wings

by xThunderCloudx



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Fantasy, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, all members included, all places and characters are my imagination, also other fandoms included, enjoy, i came up with this when i had to study for my exams yeet, i'm still a rookie writer so please have mercy on me :), might delete these tags later, some characters appear later in the story, there might be some sexual content, this is my original work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 02:10:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20481131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xThunderCloudx/pseuds/xThunderCloudx
Summary: he was frozen, his feet felt like they were glued to the ground and he wasn't even able to make a sound.it must have been a miracle that suddenly saved him. maybe he just got saved by his guardian angel. and that was the last thought that struck his mind before he collapsed on the ground.- - - - - - - -"you're- you're a-""yeah, i am""and he- and they""jongho?"• • • •one night completely changes the way wooyoung pictures the world. everything he was told to be the truth turns out to be nothing but a cover up for the real world.





	1. starry night

**Author's Note:**

> i came up with this story a while ago and i was afraid to put this idea out here but i finally took the courage and wrote it. i'm only a starter yet, so i apologize for the mistakes in this story. also english is not my first language so i'm sorry if my vocabulary and grammar aren't great. i'm improving! other than that i hope you enjoy this fantasy-like story and thank you for reading
> 
> UPDATE: i am literally losing my mind i keep trying to separate paraghraphs but it just won't work?? when i edit, the dialogues are all separated but when i post it everything turns into a huge block of text and i really apologize for that i don't understand whats going on..

"perfect! now turn slightly to the left!" the camera man complimented him as he took more pictures. san put a hand through his hair slowly, strands of hair falling in front of his face while looking at the camera. the flash of the camera was a little too much for his sensitive eyes, but he tried his best to keep focus and suppressed the feeling. he switched his position as he was told and was now biting his lower lip, while his hand traveled to his nape, earning another praise from the man behind the device.  
san turned back around staring right into the camera lens again, this time with an intense gaze and a small smirk. from the whispers coming from the stylist, that he was able to pick up with his sharp hearing, he knew it was the right move. 

the photoshoot went on for two hours. san had to wear all the clothing that were part of the new collection and pose for the new magazine, that would soon be released and after the preview, he thanked the stylists and the photographer for their hard work. 

once in his private room, he sat down immediately and drank almost a whole bottle of water. san was a natural when it came to modeling, even those who despised him could agree on that. though, san never was a fan of posing in front of a camera. he didn't like the fame that this career had brought him. everywhere he would go, people would only see a pretty face. not to mention, the things people would say about him, thinking that san wouldn't hear them. 

jealousy. when humans were jealous, they would try to bring you down to make themselves feel better, to cover up the fact that they lack confidence. they would put themselves higher to protect their ego. san had learnt that the hard way.  
it didn't bother him, though. san cared about their opinions as much as he cared about being a model. the only reason he was doing this, was for his mother after all. his mother never forced him into modeling, san just felt like he had to somehow repay his mother for everytihng she had done for him for the past twenty years. san had become the main model of the company, so his mom wouldn't have to spend money on other models. san had made that decision after the company was in dept and it had saved his mother from paying extra money on models, since san was liked immediately by the audience. he had the face and the body after all, so why not use it.

a knock on his door interrupted his thoughts. 

"come in", san yelled, too tired to walk to the door. 

"mr. choi, your mother wants you to join her meeting" the middle aged woman, who san recognized as his mother's secretary, informed him. "okay, can you tell her i'll be there in ten minutes? i have to freshen up a bit first!" "of course", mrs. kim nodded and then closer the door. after she left, san took a quick shower and put on his suit that his mother asked him to wear when he was at the company. the suits would give the staff a more formal look, she had said. san just went along with it, not really caring about what he wore as long as his mother was content. "so i guess you already may or may not know why i asked for this meeting", mr. lee said, sitting across his mother, hands folded on the table. san had sat down on one of the office chairs as soon as he had arrived. he was playing with his silver bracelet on his right wrist, leaning back with an uninterested expression on his face. it wasn't the first time mr. lee would ask for a meeting that most of the time was about him complaining about the company. "ms. Choi." he started again. "it's been going around that your son was asked to model for wong yukhei's company, Y.U.K.O, which, as we all know, is a brand well known in not only korea, but also china and japan and is also making a breakthrough in europe." 

apparently this time, he was the subject for today's complaints, san thought. 

"modeling for Y.U.K.O. is a chance that 90% of the models could only dream of. which is why everyone was, shocked, to say the least that your son declined. "

ms. choi looked at her son. when it was clear san wasn't going to answer, she took the word. "if my son didn't agree, then i don't think we really have a say in his decision, do we?" she said. san still kept his arrogant face, but on the inside he wanted to hug is mother. 

mr. lee clenched his jaw. "ms. choi", he breathed out. "i don't think you understand."

"if your son signs the contract, that would only benefit your company. think about all the sponsors that would be interested if they find out from what company he came from. this is a golden opportunity, we- i mean you can't let this chance slip away." 

god, this man was really starting to work on san's nerves. san could sense when humans were no good. he could feel that mr. lee had some bad intentions. unfortunately, he didn't have any proof of it. and even if his mother wanted to believe him, she told him she can't fire him just because san's gut was telling him so. besides, mr. lee had been part of the company from the very beginning and he hadn't done anything suspicious. san figured out he maybe just disliked the man so much he started sensing things that weren't real. nevertheless, he couldn't handle the man being around them.

"i understand your point, mr. lee. but as i said: this decision is not up to you and it is not up to me either. i won't force san into anything he doesn't want to do" ms. choi said.

the old man slammed his hand on the table. "the stocks have been decreasing lately. we can't risk to go bankrupt because someone is too lazy to put some effort and work for the company. he's a model and just like all the other models, he is expected to do what's right for the company. think about the staff working here, about your own clothing line. think about-"

"careful, mr. lee. let me remind you that this is my son you're talking to. san is my son, before he is a model and therefore, he'll always have a say in this matter. i'd suggest you take your words back" his mother said calmly, but sternly. 

san looked at the strong woman beside him with adoration. his mother was a sweet woman, but when it came to her only child, she could turn into ice. san may not have his mother's appearance, but he did derive her strong personality to protect loved ones, her strict way of working and her determination to get where she wanted to be.

mr. lee coughed awkwardly. "my apologies, ms. choi." he bowed slightly.

"i let my emotions take over me, i didn't mean what i said." the man justified. san was sure he didn't mean any of it.

"but, please. consider the offer one last time, mr. choi. wearing their clothes won't harm. it's not a big deal" mr. lee tried again, the bitterness in his voice noticeable. 

and then san had enough. now he was the one jumping up, ready to give the nosy man a piece of his mind.

"is that so? listen, mr. lee. clearly you have no idea what the contract asked from me. y.u.k.o is located in china. signing the contract would mean i have to leave for almost four weeks and i have other important things i need to get done with in those four weeks. my answer stays no. don't bring this up again."

the man on the other side of the office table nodded, although san knew he wasn't okay with san's decision.

"smile a little, sanshine", his mother poked his rib, startling him from his daydream. san sighed and leaned his head against the car window.

he sank further into the comfortable seat of the black limousine. "can you believe he really had the nerve to talk to me likr that", san scoffed.

"don't let that conversation get to your head, you know mr. lee can be a little... demanding?"

"i don't trust him even a bit. i bet he's planning on taking over the company some day."

"san, we talked about this. i have everything under control. he can't even come close to the company. don't worry, honey", his mother assured him. 

"thank you for being on my side every time people try to scold me for not accepting deals from other, bigger companies." it wasn't the first time some big company had asked san to model for them. san was attractive and everyone could agree on that. but san couldn't sign those contracts even if he wanted to, for the sake of his secret, which is why his mother also never asked him to wear revealing clothes, or go shirtless. however other companies didn't know about his secret and they should never know either. it was safer to stay in his mother's company. 

"of course! you know i would never ask you to do such things." his mother said. "i wouldn't force you to do anything even if you didn't carry such a weight on your shoulders." she spoke, choosing her words carefully, not to sound suspicious just in case the driver was listening to their conversation.

san thanked her and turned his attention to look at the view from the window. he recognized the neighborhood they were in. they always drove past this particular neighborhood. san checked the time on his apple watch. 15.44. he then looked at one specific small house at the corner of the street, knowing that at that time - and indeed there he was - a black haired boy would leave the house. 

jung wooyoung. san knew him from college. they had a few courses together. san didn't doubt that wooyoung knew about him as well. at this point he was pretty sure everyone in school knew about him... and he may or may not have overheard some conversations between wooyoung and his friend, whose name he had learned was jongho, where his name was mentioned. it was nothing special though. the conversation would go like: "who's sitting on that chair" "san" "ah right, choi san"

san was just happy to know wooyoung talked about him. sometimes, he wondered what it would be like to be close to the younger. he wouldn't call it love, the things he felt towards the black haired male, since obviously they never talked to each other. he didn't know if he should call it a crush? he just sort of felt drawn to the boy's vibe. and his cute laugh every time someone said something funny. his habit of frowning and pouting when he was thinking too hard about something the professor said- okay, maybe it was a tiny little crush after all.

once san arrived home, he ran upstairs to his room and laid down on his bed immediately. he must have been close to drifting off since he didn't even notice his mother entering his room after a couple minutes.

"i was wondering if you want to join the dinner with the staff of the company" she asked. 

san sat up straight and rubbed his eyes. "i'm sorry, i think i'll skip this time, if that's okay? i still have a lot of work to do.."

"of course! i'll ask mrs. kim to prepare you dinner." she said.

"are you.. are you going out tonight?" she asked 

"hmm. maybe", san answered. "why?"

"it's just that.. i don't trust it, san", his mother said, worry all over her face.

"it's fine, mom. i told you i'm always careful. i've been doing this for years. nothing will happen to me and no one will suspect a thing", san said.

"i'm just afraid something bad will happen to you, you know what i mean", she said, her voice turning into a whisper, as she recalled the memories from years ago.

"i know, mom. but you shouldn't be. i can't supress the feeling of being outside. the longer i ignore it, the eager the feeling becomes." san explained.

"i know that.." she answered. "please return safely.. and don't cause any scene, okay?"

"me? never!" san laughed.

~•~

"what are you doing here?" wooyoung asked.

"oh, hi, hello, nice to see you too!" jongho rolled his eyes. "can't i visit my best friend?"

"i'm working. i can't just sit down and have a talk with you, my boss will flip", wooyoung said, while cleaning the table next to jongho, or at least pretending to so his boss wouldn't scold him for not doing his job properly.

"well, i figured that out. which is why i came at this hour. there's barely anyone here and i can drink something at ease and you can talk to me." jongho said.

"you ordered something already?"

"oh, well not yet. can you please bring me a coke?" jongho said, taking place at the window.

"yesss, sir."

not too long after that wooyoung returned and placed the drink in front of jongho. then he sat down on the other chair.

"so how much is it?" jongho asked. wooyoung shook his head. "don't worry, this one is on me."

"oh, thank you so much! i actually forgot my wallet anyway so, ehh.." jongho laughed embarrased. 

wooyoung stared at his best friend with a serious expression. "you're impossible."

"so when is your shift finally over?" jongho asked, changing the subject.

"my shift? i'm not sure.." wooyoung answered.

"what do you mean?"

"tonight is party night. meaning people will be here all night long probably.." wooyoung sighed, the dark circles under his eyes clearly visible now.

"what the fuck? don't tell me your boss is making you stay till the party is over"

when wooyoung didn't say anything, jongho knew the answer.

"i wanna speak to your boss right now. i want to crash his skull the way i crash my apples." jongho said through gritted teeth.

"don't overreact! it's fine! i'm getting paid so-"

"what do you mean 'it's fine'? you're a student doing a part time job to pay off college, woo. he shouldn't overwork you like this! and- and who knows when this stupid party thing will be over. there are no busses that drive past 11pm" jongho was worried and frustrated at the same time. if only he could pay for wooyoung's duties, so that he wouldn't have to see his friend so overworked and sleep deprived.

"i'll be fine, jongho! really! my house is a 20 minute walk away! nothing will happen! i get to work a little longer, get paid a little more and-"

"sleep, eat and take care of yourself even worse than you already do!"

"jongho."

"i'm sorry, i'm sorry.. i just can't handle to see you like this."

"thank you for worrying about me, but i'm almost 20 now. i can protect myself." wooyoung said confidently.

"woo, your ass may be thick but you have the strengh of a chicken nugget." 

"AuCh! what was that for?" jongho cried, rubbing the place on his head that wooyoung had hit.

"you deserved that one."

"okay, okay. maybe you're right. but you know i'm saying these things because i care about you, right?"

wooyoung chuckled. "don't worry too much about me, okay?"

"hmm." 

"i promise you nothing will happen. i'll be okay!!"

"i'm not convinced but i'll let this one pass. you better text me the second you leave your work. if i don't get a text message after twenty minutes telling me you arrived home safely, i'm calling the police."

wooyoung thought jongho was being dramatic, but agreed anyways. "okay, deal!"

jongho nodded.

"i'm still gonna beat the shit out of your crappy boss one day."

"jongho!!!"

the term 'exhausted' was an understatement compared to the way wooyoung was feeling. he could pass out any minute from sleeplessness, dehydration and on top of all that, wooyoung felt sick. his burning forehead confirmed that he had the flew. god, wooyoung hated everything about this day. he felt so relieved when the party was over. he did have to spend another hour cleaning the mess the customers had made. he wasn't completely done, though. it would take way too long for that. instead, he decided he would start working an hour earlier to finish the dirty dishes. right now, he just wanted to be asleep. the thought of that almost made him cry. his body was close to giving up. maybe jongho was right, maybe his boss really deserved to have his skull crushed by jongho. wooyoung promised that after this night, he would look for a new job.

it was around 03:34 when wooyoung could finally leave. wooyoung was too tired to think of texting jongho after he closed the café. he started walking down the street. the night was colder than he expected it to be, he was shaking from how cold it was. or maybe he was shaking because the streets were too quiet and too dark, too sketchy. he tried to slow down the rhythm of his beating heart and told himself he would be okay. but with every step he took, his anxiety became worse. he felt like he was being followed the whole time. when he turned around, he saw a man, at least 40, grinning devilishly at him.

"well, well. what is such a pretty boy like you doing alone on the streets at this hour?" wooyoung's heart stopped beating for a second. he felt cold sweat dripping down his forehead. "it's okay, it's one man. you can get rid of him easily", he told himself in an attempt to calm down. 

maybe he could get rid of one creep, but suddenly two more large figures appeared. every part of wooyoung screamed danger. he didn't waste any more seconds and started sprinting as fast as he could, taking a lot of turns, hoping to get rid of them as they kept calling him ugly names, yelling at him to stop running and praying that he didn't run into other homeless, drunk creeps. he ran in an unknown street, with barely any lights on. 

"fuck!!!" he cursed, when he saw the men were still after him. wooyoung felt like his body would fall apart, but he pushed himself to keep running. he saw a black fence somewhere further, which was rather high, but wooyoung took the chance. luckily he could place his feet into the rather big holes of the fence, to climb on the other side. while doing so, he felt a stinging pain on his left arm, but right now it was not the time for him to worry about his injury. he looked behind him and saw the men struggling to jump over the fence, but wooyoung knew it wouldn't take them long before they figured something out to cross the fence.

wooyoung reached to his pocket, taking out his phone as he kept on running. with shaky hands he tried to call the police. "pick up, pick up.." after a few seconds a female voice finally answered and wooyoung thought he was going to be saved.

"hello, this the police department how-" and suddenly the call ended. "h-hello?" wooyoung called, while running, but no answer. when he looked at his phone, he realized his phone had died. wooyoung wanted to smash his phone to the ground in frustration and he cursed how this couldn't get any worse.

expect for it could get even worse. wooyoung had to stop when he was faced with a high wall, which was impossible to cross over. thinking of how he could escape now, he looked around the place. there were a few containers and boxes but nothing would help him to cross the wall. he looked from left to right, right to left, up, down, coming then to the conclusion that he really was trapped. as he thought of going back, the three men appeared once more, this time, though, holding sticks and chains on their hands. wooyoung gulped, taking a step backwards as the three criminals took one forward.

"you could have make this less painful if you would have just obeyed, little boy", one of them said with a dusgusting voice, causing wooyoung to tremble even more in fear.

"stay away from me", wooyoung tried screaming, but his voice came put as a hopeless cry for help. wooyoung was close to tears, heart beating so fast against his chest, expecting the absolute worst. as the men came closer with the most filthy smirk on their faces, wooyoung's vision started becoming more blury, the tears starting to escape and roll down his cheeks while wooyoung thought about what would happen to him or if he would make it alive.. he was frozen, his feet felt like they were glued on the ground and he wasn't even able to make a sounds. every second passing by, was torture as wooyoung waited in fear.

it must have been a miracle, that saved him at the last minute, because all of a sudden, the men approaching him and the smirks these men had on their faces disappeared in less than a second, making place for a look of terror as they backed away while looking at something behind wooyoung. the men dropped every weapon they had carried with them and ran in the direction they came from as fast as they could.

and then wooyoung felt someone's presense behind him. he turned around slowly, to see who had just saved him from the horror that was about to happen to him.

however, nothing could have prepared wooyoung for what he saw once he turned around. whatever was standing on one of the containers, was definitely no human. or, not completely human, at least. wooyoung saw a human body. a young, well trained human body. the weak lighting of the broken lamppost made it possible for wooyoung to see their rather large tattoo on the left side of their chest, wooyoung couldn't really figure out what the meaning was. their face however stayed hidden in the shadow, which made it impossible for wooyoung to see it. their eyes however, were a color of bright red, looking directly at wooyoung. and then his eyes fell on the black wings behind the creature. large black wings, similar to those of a fallen angel. 

maybe, maybe he just got saved by his guardian angel. and that's the last thought that struck his mind, before wooyoung collapsed on the ground.

• • •

he returned home, after a long night. he didn't want to scare of the boy at the scene. but, he was not done with the three men that had intended on hurting an innocent human like wooyoung. a proud smile appeared on his face as he thought of the punishment those filthy pedophiles he made them go through. good, he thought. that would teach them a lesson forever. he stared at his reflection in the mirror of his luxury room. skin so pale, eyes red like fresh blood, his raven hair with red highlights... someone might have mistaken him for a vampire. that if he didn't have those wonderful wings that were more black than the darkest night. he saw himself transform back into his normal form. his black wings disappearing again, his eyes turned back into brown pupils and his hair returned to ash blond. the only thing that remained, was the tattoo on his chest, that had appeared ever since he had turned 18. he turned his back to the mirror, revealing two big scars, where his wings were supposed to be. he grabbed a shirt from his wardrobe, quickly pulling it over his head as he heard footsteps coming closer.

a second later, the door opened and the house maid appeared. "i'm sorry to disturb, you" she apologized right away. " i heard a lot of noise and i got woken up, i was worried something had happened to you!"

"oh, no! i'm totally fine. i accidentally knocked off my desk lamp while finishing some work", he answered. "i'm sorry for waking you up and worrying you at this late hour" he smiled at her apologetically, revealing his cute dimples.

the older woman smiled back at him. "i'm glad everything is okay. i'll return now. good night, mr. choi"

"good night, mrs. seo. and please, we've known each other for so long now, just call me san!"

*

*

*

*

*

the second wooyoung woke up, he felt like throwing up. he rushed to the bathroom and he barely made it on time. wooyoung had never felt worse. with all the little strengh the had left, he pushed himself up to clean the mess he had made.

after he had taken a shower and taken his medicine, he laid down on the couch in the living room, covering himself with a warm blanket. he would just wait for his grandmother to return home and make him something to eat, since he literally couldn't move his body. his head was hurting so much, it felt like invisible knives were stabbing him. he tried to stop his thoughts that were causing him even more headache, but it seemed like the more he tried to ignore them, the more he kept thinking about them. then he suddenly thought of something. 

wooyoung didn't remember returning home last night.

he recalled the memories from last night. he remembered closing the café late at night, walking down the dark streets.. he felt himself becoming anxious at the memories. everything after that is just a blurry image. he remembered running away from the creepy old men, crossing the fence and scratching his left arm pretty badly during the process. and then things didn't make sense anymore. something had saved his life. something with bright red eyes and black wings... wooyoung couldn't convince himself that whatever happened last night was real. there was no way maybe he had been so sleep deprived, he started hallucinating, seeing things that weren't real. maybe he had been too caught up in jongho's weird stories, he created some monster in his head. but then again, he wasn't the only one who had seen the creature. the three men that had been chasing him, must have seen him too. why else, would they run away like their life depended on it. this whole thing was making him feel worse. he wondered if he should ask jongho about this or whether he should keep quiet and move on like nothing happened.

jongho... 

"oh, no, no, no!!" he grabbed his phone from the table, that he remembered to plug in before he went to shower. he hadn't checked his phone afterwards. as he expected, he had like 100 messages and 47 missed calls from jongho.

he considered calling him back, but maybe he should wait a little for jongho to cool down because wooyoung was sure jongho would be furious at him for not texting him as he had promised. right at that moment the bell rang, making wooyoung jump in surprise. whoever was ringing the bell, wasn't planning on stopping, since the person kept ringing frequently. as wooyoung stood up to open the door, the person then started knocking heavily on the door. 

"WOOYOUNG!" the voice, wooyoung immediately recognized it as jongho's, shouted. "YOU BETTER OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW OR IM BREAKING IT!"

wooyoung opened the door quickly before jongho would make a hole with his fists. seriously, that boy's strengh was no joke. "jongho, what is wrong with you i-"

"ARE YOU INSANE? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I WAS?"

"listen i'm sorry my phone died and-" wooyoung couldn't even explain himself because he started coughing badly. angry jongho suddenly made place for worried jongho. he rushed to his best friend immediately, offering support.

"woo, are you okay?" he asked, his voice full of concern. then he pressed his handpalm against his forehead. "jeez, you're literally on fire, what the fuck." jongho lead him back to the couch. as wooyoung laid down, he put the blanket over him again. he then noticed the wound on his left arm. 

"what happened to your arm?"

wooyoung thought about telling him the truth, but then decided against it. it's not like he didn't trust his best friend. but he didn't know what he was supposed to tell him. he couldn't just tell him that some mythological creature, was actually real and saved him from rapists. at least not until he had this all figured out. 

"someone dropped his glass at the party and i hurt myself while cleaning up the pieces", he lied.

jongho started getting angry again. "where was your boss, when this happened?" he asked, already knowing the answer. "he. uhh.. he was drinking", wooyoung answered while picking his nails to avoid looking his friend in the eyes. "your phone. now", jongho demanded, putting out his hand. "why? what are you gonna do?" wooyoung asked. 

jongho didn't answer, but he still held out his hand for wooyoung to hand over his phone. wooyoung sighed, giving in. "thank you", jongho said, unlocking his phone -wooyoung's code was his birthday- and started typing immediately. "here you go, you can thank me later." jongho smiled proudly. wooyoung's eyes became the size of a watermelon, as he read through the messages jongho had just sent. "what have you done??!!" "i just saved your life. you won't have to work for that crappy café anymore!" "but- but what about the money? i don't have a job now- how am i supposed to pay off everything?" wooyoung panicked. "do you remember that new coffee shop that will soon be opened near our campus? what was the name again. coffee- coffee..." jongho asked. "coffeelicious?" " yeah, that one. well, you know how much i hate your current- i mean now your previous job, right? i edited your cv a little and then sent it to the owner of 'coffeelicious'! you should get a response within two days." although wooyoung should be mad at him for basically stealing his cv and sending it to apply for a job wooyoung didn't even know about, a greater part of him was really grateful the younger cared so much about him and saved him from his old job. he put his arms around him, hugging him tightly. "we'll talk later about you looking into my private documents but right now, thank you so much, jongho! you're literally the best friend ever!" "i know, i know. now, please let me go, i don't wanna get sick!" the weekend lasted like three seconds. monday came way too quickly and jongho was in a worse mood than ever. "if i was born rich, i wouldn't have to go through this bullshit. but, noooo" "don't act like that", wooyoung chuckled. "even if you would be rich, you still would have to go to school." he said, his voice still a little hoarse from being sick. they both looked at the blond haired model a couple of seats in front of them. "but it's not the same, woo! he can take over the company once he's older. if i were him, i wouldn't even care about passing. but sadly, if i fail college, i don't have a future." jongho cried. "don't be so negative, jongho! you'll pass and you will find a job and live happily!" wooyoung tried to cheer him up. "i will fail and live under a bridge." "that's not true!" "then i'll get sick but i won't be able to take care of myself!!!" "jongho, shut up, you're overreacting-" "i'll die ALONE and no one will care about me and-" "ohmygod! if you say one more negative thing i will literally snap!!" wooyoung threatened. "elektrons." "i will fucking end you." ~•~ if there was one thing san hated about his abilities, it was his sharp hearing. he could hear people whisper from meters away and all the things people said about him, which weren't always so nice. "i heard he declined wong's offer. why would he do that? " he heard one of the students whisper. "i don't know. he's not so smart after all, huh. doesn't he realize it could have boosted his fame?" another student said. "bet he's not even good at modeling, that's why he declined. he's just lucky his mother has her own clothing line. how sad, he's just a pretty face, nothing more." a third student mocked. other people were giggling in agreement. san scoffed. it made him laugh how people would just assume things about him, without even knowing him. people talked so much behind his back, but when they would be in front of him, they would smile in the most friendly way, unaware that san knew the things they would whisper about him. it was pathetic, really. if he wented to, he could end their egos in one second, but san decided that he was better than that, thus he just let them speak. one day, they would look up to him and regret everything. "I KNEW IT!" a voice suddenly shouted through the whole class, which startled san a little. san, and a few other students turned around and he recognized the owner of the voice, jongho. "shh, keep it down! everyone is looking!", he heard wooyoung whisper in shame. san turned back around pretending to take notes from the uninteresting documentary video, but he focused his hearing on the two boys at the back. "im sorry, but i knew you would get employed", jongho said. "thank god, now you won't have to work in that sketchy area." as san was listening to the conversation, he felt relief taking over him when he found out wooyoung wouldn't be working near that area anymore. he had been flying high in the night sky, in the woods, peaceful and calm, when he suddenly had heard heavy breathing, a fast beating heartbeat and footsteps following quickly after one another. this person must be in danger, he had figured out as the heartbeat increased and their breathing got out of control. san had flown closer to the city and had hid behind a chimney of an old abandoned factory. that way, he had a clear view on the city from the high rooftop, while staying in the shadows. with his supervision, he had searched for anyone who these footsteps that he was hearing, belonged to. it had been rather easy to find them, since no one was usually out at this late hour anyway. then he had noticed that the person was indeed in danger, running away from three larger men. anger took over him as he realized what was going on. unfortunately, it wasn't the first time that happened, usually san was too late, or not present at all to do something against crimes like these. but this time, he had happened to be right on time and he had flown closer; while staying hidden. san's blood had started to boil, his knuckles turning white and his nails digging wounds in his palms as he watched the person running with everything he had left.

wooyoung, he had recognized him. something in him had snapped as he saw the boy in complete terror like that. wooyoung had climbed over a rather large fence to get rid of the creeps chasing him, skratching his left arm while doing so; the sudden metallic smell of blood hitting his high sensitive nostrils confirmed that he indeed had hurt himself. although, wooyoung hadn't probably noticed his bleeding as he was running for his life. from where san had been standing, he had seen that wooyoung was approaching a dead end. san had spread his wings flying till he had reached the wall where multiple containers and boxes were spread across the street, belonging to the abandoned factory, probably. 

he had stayed in the shadows until he saw wooyoung finally reach the wall. wooyoung looked miserable and the sight broke san a little, which then angered him even more. san had waited until the three pervs were close enough. when one of them threatened wooyoung, that was san's breaking point. he knew he shouldn't reveal himself, he had promised to stay hidden, away from the humans, but at that moment he couldn't have cared less. he had appeared, standing confidently on one of the containers close to the broken lamppost, the lighting revealed his toned body, his magnificent wings, but his face was hidden in the shadows, except for his eyes, glowing red in anger as he stared at the men. just as he expected they dropped everything they had been carrying, running away in fear for the creature that had suddenly appeared. san wasn't done with them. first, he made it a priority to bring the poor boy, that had fainted, back home safely. as he had picked him up, he noticed the high temperature coming from the boy in his arms. he was sick, san had realized and that gave him more reasons to deal with whoever wanted to harm wooyoung. 

he had brought him home, knowing where he lived since he passed his house almost everyday, had placed him carefully on the doorstep, had rung the bell, and then he had flown high in the sky, waiting for someone to open the door. an elderly man, san guessed it must have been his grandfather, picked him up. the old man looked down the street from left to right in confusion, before closing the door. he was safe, san thought. he couldn't return home yet, though. he had something he needed to do first and he couldn't wait to finish a fight that these men had started.

"you should be grateful to have a friend like me. like you should thank the gods above for having me in your life." jongho said.

okay, maybe san was a little creepy for eavesdropping the conversation, but he couldn't help it. he was quite lonely after all, not having anyone to talk to. besides, the conversation between the two was usually entertaining. of course, when san noticed the conversation was getting too personal, he would stop focusing on them. san knew that listening to their random conversations wasn't less creepy, but he didn't choose to be born with a sharp hearing ability.

"why are you always so extra?" san heard wooyoung asking his friend. 

"extra? be glad i didn't beat you up for not texting me as you had promised. i was so worried man!" 

"i told you my phone had died. besides, i'm alive and well..." wooyoung said. he lied, san thought. hadn't he told jongho about what happened? 

"you're sick and you still decided to come to class. why? and did you even tell your boss how badly you hurt your arm when you cleaned up that broken glass?" jongho asked. san knew he was talking about his scratched arm, which was now covered with bandage.

"no, there's no need to. besides i quit the job already. well, you quit the job for me but that's not the point" wooyoung brushed it off. "can we focus on this documentary now?" "psssh. literally no one cares about that stupid documentary. even the professor doesn't give a shit." jongho said, which earned him another punch on his arm from wooyoung. 

he really hadn't told jongho, san thought. san was somehow glad he didn't. his secret was safe with wooyoung, even though wooyoung couldn't possibly know that it was san who had saved him. he didn't really worry about the men saying anything: he had made sure they wouldn't say anything. san decided he was no longer interested in whatever the two friends were talking, so he stopped focusing his hearing on the two. instead, he finally started paying attention to the documentary that their professor had told them to listen to because he didn't have to do anything better anyway.

san spent his breaks at the library. he usually spent his time reading a book that he found interesting or he would just sit down and pretend to read. san didn't have friends at school. he thought it was better that way. having friends meant he had to tell them at some point about his secret and he knew for a fact that that wouldn't go well. he had tried that once, years ago. he had a best friend and they loved each other a lot. san thought that he could share his secret. however, his once best friend was shocked and he started trembling.

•••"what- what is that?" he asked with a shaking voice.

"my wings", little san had answered smiling, but his smile dropped when he saw the fear in his best friend's eyes.

"you're a monster", he had whispered.

"no, i'm not! i would never hurt you i-"

"DON'T come closer! don't touch me" he turned around and he ran away as fast as he could, leaving a crying 8 year old san behind. ••• 

san sighed as he remembered the scene. no, being alone was much safer. sometimes, the possibility of creatures like him existing crossed his mind, but san had never heard or met another one from his kind before. heck, he wouldn't believe his kind was even real if he wasn't one himself.

while he was reading, his nostrils picked up a familiar scent. as san looked up, he saw wooyoung entering the library. how he could recognize the younger boy's smell, was a surprise to him as well. san wondered what wooyoung was looking for, since he had never seen the black haired boy enter the library before. 

"excuse me", san heard wooyoung ask the lady at the entrance.

"where can i find books about mythological creatures?" san kept his eyes on his book, but his grip on the book tightened.

"at the back, turn to your right and you'll find a lot of books. from Greek mythology to other modern fictional books and stories." the lady had answered. wooyoung thanked her and started making his way to the bookshelf at the back. san knew exactly why he was there. it shouldn't surprise him. what did he expect? that wooyoung would just forget about it? of course not. but what were the odds that he would find a book related to san's existence?

he heard wooyoung sigh while looking through the bookshelf, opening and closing the different books. a part of san felt bad for putting the younger through this. on the other side, he couldn't just walk up to him and say 'hey, i'm not human like you and i saved your life by the way.'

another pair of footsteps; jongho had arrived at the library as well.

"woo, i've been looking for you, i ran off the whole campus." he heard jongho whisper- yell since he couldn't really speak loudly at the library. it was times like these san appreciated his ability to hear what people were saying from a distance.

"i did text you this time, though!", wooyoung answered.

"yes. after i called you like five times. what are you looking for anyways?" 

"i- eh. i have to draw a mythological creature for my next art class. i was looking for some inspiration." san doubted there was any truth in his answer.

"oh? what do you have in mind?" jongho asked.

" i was thinking of something with a human body, but with wings?"

"so obvious, wooyoung", san muttered under his breath. luckily no one could hear him. 

"like a.. a fairy? an angel?"

"not sure. could be an angel? but im not really looking for that..." wooyoung answered. 

"hmm. an angel but not really an angel", jongho chuckled. "describe what you have in mind!"

wooyoung thought deeply. he couldn't sound too suspicious, but he wanted to describe the creature as good as possible. maybe luck would be on his side and jongho would know what he meant. "i was thinking of some creature that no one has ever talked about. a creature with wings similar to those of an angel, but larger, thicker and sharper at the end? shining eyes and... i don't know something like that?"

"that's specific", jongho laughed. "but lucky for you, i think i might know what you're looking for!"

"wait, seriously?" wooyoung was caught off guard.

on the other side of the librabry, san froze and almost dropped his book, but he kept listening carefully.

"you do?" wooyoung asked surprised. 

"give me a second", jongho started looking through the many books.

he then pulled out a book and sat down, his back against the bookshelf. wooyoung took place next to him.

"i think dratures fit perfectly in your description", he said. 

"dra- what?" wooyoung asked confused.

"dratures. my grandfather would always tell me stories about these creatures called dratures. he claimed to have seen them. of course no one believed him. my grandpa was a little crazy and fantasized a lot.", jongho laughed.

"how come i have never heard of these things before.." wooyoung said, frowning and took the book from jongho's lap. 

"i don't know", jongho said while taking out his sandwich and biting in it. "they're not so popular amongst the many fictional creatures that we know of." he said with his mouth still full.

"yea, okay. first of all, eat before you speak", wooyoung said in disgust. "and you're not even supposed to eat in the library!"

"oh please, no one visits this place. they won't find out!"

wooyoung decided to not go into further discussion. instead, he focused on the book he had on his lap. with his fingertips, he traced the cover of the book as he observed the so called drature. except for the one on the cover had pearl white wings and eyes bluer than the ocean. even the tattoo on his chest was different. the creature on this cover looked nothing like the one wooyoung remembered.

"600 pages? i really don't feel like reading it all", wooyoung said as he went through the many pages of the book.

"then don't? just search for a picture online and baam, you can start drawing." jongho looked at him with a dumb expression.

"well, aren't you a genius", wooyoung said sarcastically. "i would like to know more about whatever i'm drawing, you know."

"i see. hmm." jongho thought. "if i remember clearly, my grandpa told me that there were a lot of different dratures."

"you had those who were royal, they usually had white wings. and then the others would usually have grey wings, but like... there were also differences in shades of grey. the darker the shade, the lower you were in their society. each color has it's own unique name, but honestly i never cared to learn them. i didn't know my grandpa's stories would come in handy some day." jongho explained.

"wow, the darker the color, the lower your place in society? that sounds familiar."

jongho laughed. "right?."

wooyoung thought of the creature he had seen. "so i suppose black wings mean the lowest rank in society?" wooyoung asked.

"black wings? i don't think there are any dratures with black wings though- OH WAIT. i think i know. if i'm not wrong, black means you're half human half drature." jongho took his phone out, typing in something quickly.

"i was right. look", jongho put his phone in front of wooyoung's face. 

"sheisire. the drature with black wings", wooyoung read out loud. "when a drature and a human mate, the newborn turns into a sheisire. sheisires aren't welcomed by the other dratures, since being the child of a human is seen as a disgrace within the dratures."

"that's just sad. dratures are assholes. i mean- they would have been if they were real" jongho joked.

wooyoung didn't say anything, too lost in his thoughts. 

was there any possibility that dratures were real?

of course, they were. heck, wooyoung had seen one himself.

"but where do they come from? like what's their history?" wooyoung asked.

"i think there's a lot of enigma surrounding that topic", jongho said. "some claim they have been sent by gods to look over humans, but then other religions don't acknowledge their existence. others say they've been created by the devil and then there's also a theory that they've existed even before humans so... it's kinda the same story like with humans. science says we originate from monkeys and then religions say we were created by god- you get what i mean!"

"hmm.. yeah! i'm impressed, honestly." wooyoung said. "and you said you didn't know much about them!" he laughed.

"okay, i may or may not have a weird interest for mythological creatures, which is my grandfather's fault by the way."

"who are you trying to fool, secretly you're a nerd", wooyoung joked. "you never told me though!"

"you know now! so if you don't have anything else to look for, can we go grab some lunch?"

"lunch? what lunch? you literally just ate a sandwich like two minutes ago!"

"and? a sandwich doesn't fill up this big boy", jongho started patting his stomach, to which wooyoung responded by hitting his arm with the book he was holding.

san had been listening the whole time. he was sure wooyoung wouldn't stop looking into his kind and the thought made him anxious. multiple questions started forming in his head.

what if he finds out about everything?

what if wooyoung looks too much into this and gets himself in trouble?

what if wooyoung finds out san is a sheisire?

he started regretting showing up that one night, but who was he kidding, he would do it again if wooyoung needed him. san put his face in his hands, sighing loudly. he had saved his life from humans, but now he had to make sure wooyoung didn't get in trouble with his kind. he didn't think of the fact that saving him might have put him into even more danger. there was only one way he could protect him without having to reveal his true identity.

he had to get close to the younger.


	2. will you be my friend?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "i promise it's not what you think i-", wooyoung was about to end his friend.
> 
> "i'm flattered. i'd like to see the drawing you made, though", san smirked.
> 
> "here, i have it on my phone wait-" jongho took out his phone.
> 
> "NO-"
> 
> \-----------
> 
> "i can't promise anything. you're the nation's favorite after all."
> 
> san held back the urge to roll his eyes. 'nation's favorite' yeah, right.
> 
> "last time i checked that position was being threatened by a certain red haired model, what did they call him again? sweet, sweet-"
> 
> "sweet strawberry angel? yeah, i hear that a lot, it's getting a little annoying"

the next day, san had woken up earlier than usual. the cold water hitting his skin, as he turned on the shower, made his muscles tense up at the sudden contact. he wrapped a towel around his middle and placed his hands on both sides of the sink, staring at his reflection in the mirror. today was the day he was going to step out of his comfort zone. he knew he had to be more careful than ever right now, one wrong move could get both him and wooyoung in danger.

walking down the halls of the school, he could sense wooyoung more and more. he purposely followed the scent so he would run into him. he tried to suppress the nervous feeling in his chest by reminding himself that he was supposed to do this, that this was the right thing to do.

he saw him, walking on his own, earbuds plugged in as he walked from the opposite direction with his hands in the pockets of his oversized hoodie. wooyoung wasn't paying attention to whatever was happening around him. san was jealous of that honestly, because ever since he arrived at school, all he heard were annoying students screaming for no reason.

he walked on the same side of the hall so he could get his attention and talk to him. as they were getting closer, san thought about what he was going to ask the younger. he didn't have to think about that for too long because all of a sudden he felt a weight pushing him and he crashed against the younger. san grabbed wooyoung by his shoulders to keep him and wooyoung from falling on the floor.

"what the hell", san scolded as he turned around.

"i-i'm so sorry! i didn't mean to! me and my friend were just messing around! please forgive me", a boy that looked younger than them apologized and bowed slightly.

san looked at him. the smaller boy had an innocent vibe around him and san could tell he meant what he said, the sound of his beating heart confirmed that he was being honest, so he calmed down. "it's alright! watch out next time, okay?"

the boy relaxed at san's words and nodded immediately.

san then turned his attention to the boy he was trying to talk to.

"are you okay?" he asked.

wooyoung looked up at san ;"oh, yeah, i-i'm okay! are you though? you were the one that got pushed!"

san chuckled. "i'm okay."

wooyoung smiled awkwardly not knowing what to say anymore. "ahh i guess i'll go then.." he said and started walking past san.

this was not going as planned, san thought. "wait!"

wooyoung turned back around.

"you're wooyoung, right?" san asked when he approached him again.

"yes, that's me", wooyoung answered surprised that san knew his name.

"we have the same class right now, i'll walk with you...if that's okay, of course!" san really hoped wooyoung wouldn't mind.

"yes, sure!" wooyoung smiled at him. san didn't know whether the younger really liked his company or if he was just being friendly, but he didn't care right now, it was a start.

the first minute was awkward between the two, san wasn't really used talking to strangers. luckily, wooyoung started talking about some random stuff they learned at school. san then decided that he quite liked wooyoung talking to him. they didn't talk much after that, but san was happy to accomplish a part of his plan. it wasn't fair to wooyoung, though. the reason that san was doing this was to protect himself and the younger of course. he hoped wooyoung would understand some day, that if wooyoung ever found out of course.

right now, san was looking outside from his balcony, breathing in the fresh air from the cold night. they called him; the moon, the wind, the starts in the sky, the woods far away from the city... the feeling in his chest became bigger and bigger, the feeling of transforming in his true self. san took off his shirt and the cold breeze caused goosebumps all over his body. his eyes were glowing red, his skin felt colder and then he finally saw in the reflection of the window the black wings appearing. he was ready to fly away, when he suddenly remembered something. he went inside his room and opened the bottom drawer next to his bed taking out a black leather face mask with two silver chains attached to it and put it on. after what happened last saturday, san couldn't risk it to show up bare faced anymore.

the joy and excitement he felt every time he flew above the city at night, watching as everyone returned to their homes after a long tiring day, people were getting ready to sleep and turned off their lights... it made san feel complete. he flew to the woods and somewhere deep in the woods, a place where no human could reach, he stopped to relax. he sat down on one of the big rocks close to the river and observed the view as the moonlight was reflecting beautifully on the water.

he took in the smell of the old woods, the smell of fresh grass... he listened carefully to the sound of the leaves that were hitting the trees as the wind blew them away, the sound of bats waking up at night... his nostrils picked up the scent of blood.

san frowned and took off his face mask. he smelled blood often when he was at the woods, usually it was the blood of an animal that got hunted or an animal that got bitten by a larger one, but they were usually far away from him. this time, the scent was really close to him. he stood up way too quickly and started searching the area around him with his glowing eyes. there, on one of the biggest trees next to the river, he saw a black raven hung on the tree with an arrow right through it's small chest. the closer he got, the heavier the smell became.

"what the fuck", he muttered as he analyzed the dead animal. san had never seen something like this before. even the arrow was unusual; it was a silver arrow, with a sharp purple fetching. the shaft was carved with small patterns. he thought no one knew about this place. this place was impossible to reach for humans, since it was located in between the three largest mountains of this area. and what human hunts on ravens in the first place, he thought.

unless it wasn't a human. san knew like no other that this small world was filled with creatures people read books about. for the first time in a while, san felt like he was being watched, he felt unsafe, scared. he quickly covered his face again and spread his wings leaving the place that used to be his safe spot.

he hid behind chimneys and walls, jumping from roof to roof as sneakily as possible. he intended on returning home, but without realizing, he arrived at a certain small house at the end of the road. san saw a tiny light coming from one of the rooms on the first floor.

the tree next to the balcony of the room became san's hidden spot as he looked through the window. wooyoung was sitting on his chair at his desk with a book in front of him. it was the book from the library, san figured out.

a part of him was feeling guilty for putting wooyoung through all of this, another part of him wanted to run to the younger and tuck him in bed to get some sleep. in four hours they had to wake up for their early classes and wooyoung was there reading about the mystery creature that saved him. there was no way the boy would let it go. it was stupid of san to hope wooyoung would forget about it. what if he got saved by something he believed was fake? would he move on like nothing happened? of course not.

san took a last glance at the black haired boy and then finally decided to fly back home.

it became a habit. every morning, san would 'accidentally run into' wooyoung and then they walked to class together. their small talks became less awkward. he wouldn't call it friendship yet, but hey, at least wooyoung felt comfortable enough to crack a joke sometimes. san had learned that wooyoung worked on mondays after his classes were done and on saturdays. he had learned that wooyoung's parents were divorced and that he lived with his grandparents from his mom's side since they lived near the campus. wooyoung didn’t want to talk much about his mother, though. 

san had also shared some of his hobbies and schedules after school, subtly inviting wooyoung to visit the company some time. he didn't know whether the younger picked up the hint, though.

at night, san would always end up flying to wooyoung's house. sometimes the younger would be awake, finishing some work or doing research- he could guess the topic he was working on without even taking a look at the screen- and other times he found the younger sleeping peacefully, which somehow made san feel happy. when wooyoung would walk at night alone, san was always nearby. every time something or someone was about to harm him, san would take care of it without wooyoung having a clue on what was going on. he had really become some sort of guardian angel to wooyoung, but strangely he didn't mind that at all.

\- - -

"... so next time, i'm challenging him again. and i will definitely win!" jongho said, slamming his fist on the table. the sudden action almost spilled wooyoung's coffee.

"ohmygod, calm down! stop getting into stupid, useless competitions with students that share one single braincell like you", wooyoung said.

"but he cheated! there's no way he could have beat me at fortnite, i am literally the master of that game."

"you really need to do something about your video games addiction, jongho", wooyoung said as he gave his apple to him to split it in two. who needs a knife when jongho is your best friend anyway. "it's getting out of control!"

"says the one who has been obsessed with a mythological creature for the past two weeks" jongho said, giving him back the fruit. "did you finally finish that drawing of yours?"

"drawi- aah yes, it's almost done. i just need to correct some small details!"

"that's great! you need to show it to me when you're done. ooh, i can show it to grampa, i'm sure he'll love it!"

"yes, of course!" wooyoung smiled at him, but on the inside he wanted to scream because felt like the worst friend ever.

“I feel like my grandpa would be very excited that someone shares the same interest with him and-“

"hey, wooyoung..” someone interrupted jongho. when the two friends turned around, they saw no one other than san. “i was wondering if i can sit with you guys today. my driver can't pick me up right now, he's stuck in traffic!" san said.

"of course, sure you can!" wooyoung moved to the chair on his right so that san could sit. he smiled thankfully at him.

"how were your classes today?" san asked as he took out his water bottle.

"the usual. art class was pretty interesting. we're learning about a new technique for drawing portraits by using charcoal pencils." wooyoung answered.

"sounds nice. my classes are always about taxes and finances, it's getting boring", san said.

"well", wooyoung chuckled. "you're taking business and economic classes!"

"true, i regret it everyday", san sighed dramatically, which made wooyoung laugh.

wooyoung then glanced at his best friend and saw him staring at the two with his mouth open and then realized that he had never told jongho about his new friend. … jongho was gonna kill him.

wooyoung cleared his throat. "ehm. san, this is jongho, my friend that i told you about!"

"ahh, right! choi jongho! nice to finally meet you", san smiled showing his dimples.

"hehh. nice to meet you too", jongho smiled at him. "woo, can i- can i talk to you for a second?"

"yes, go ahead!"

"no, i need to- i want to buy another sandwich!"

"okay, why don't you go-"

"wooyoung!"

when jongho called him by his full name and looked at him with threatening eyes, wooyoung knew it was serious and that he messed up. he apologized to san before following jongho.

"what are you doing? do you know how rude it is to leave him alone there like that?" wooyoung asked.

"what are YOU doing?" jongho almost yelled. "since when are you two close? why didn't i know about this? you're friends with the choi san and you didn't tell me??!!"

"sssssht, jongho!" wooyoung signed at him to lower his voice. "what if he hears us, you idiot!"

"psssh- please. we're like on the other side of the canteen. he can't hear us. now don't change the subject and answer my question!" jongho demanded.

"i- i don't know what to say. one day he ran into me because some kid pushed him and then we sort of started talking? we walk to class every morning and-"

"you walk to class with him?? every morning???"

"it's not a big deal!!"

"it actually is. because you didn't tell me! how could you not tell me something like this?"

wooyoung rolled his eyes. "you're acting as if he's some god or something. he's just a student, who... who happened to be more popular, more famous, more rich than any of us and- and... yeah?"

"did whatever you just said even make sense to yourself?"

"listen. i'm sorry i didn't tell you. but this is really awkward for us and for him. he's still waiting for us so we should go back to him." wooyoung begged him.

"wait! the sandwich!"

san was scrolling through his phone as he waited for the two boys to return. he texted his chauffeur, that was actually waiting for him the whole time, telling him to pick him up after lunch break was over. when he looked up, he saw the two friends walking towards him.

"sit down, be normal and friendly.. and don't embarrass us." wooyoung whispered to him.

"pshht. don't worry i got this!"

san shook his head at the two. Forgive him for eavesdropping, it's not like he could turn off his hearing every time he wanted to.

"i'm sorry for making you wait! jongho couldn't decide what sandwich he wanted." wooyoung said as he sat down.

"it's fine, don't worry!" san spoke calmly and gave him a small smile, which wooyoung returned.

wooyoung glanced at jongho trying to get his attention, but the brown haired boy was too focused on his food to notice. after some failed attempt, wooyoung kicked jongho's leg under the table.

the younger looked up at him confused. "what?" he mouthed.

wooyoung pointed subtly at san, hoping jongho would get the hint. jongho nodded and smiled confidently, letting him know he understood the message.

"so san", jongho started. "is it true that you declined wong's offer?"

wooyoung facepalmed so hard, he was sure his own fingerprint would be visible on his forehead.

"you've heard about it too?" san laughed, while wooyoung was silently threatening jongho to kill him.

"but, to answer your question; yes, i declined. it was a really nice deal, but the timing wasn't right, you know." san explained. "the following weeks i have to prepare for my upcoming exam for my degree, so it was not really practical for me to leave to china for four weeks. i messaged the company back, of course, to arrange a meeting that is more suitable for both of us. but no one really talks about the last part, they're only focused on the part where i declined the world's upcoming business man's offer."

"ohh.. yeah, you see. people love to gossip! they only share the bad stuff. i really wasn't aware about the rest of the story." jongho said and wooyoung nodded in agreement.

"sorry to ask, just a little curious", wooyoung started nervously. san chuckled at the 'curious' part, because if there was one thing he had learned, it was the fact that wooyoung was indeed a curious person. "but what happens if mr. wong doesn't accept?"

"well, shit happens, i guess? to be honest, i value my degree and my education more than my modeling career. i'm not planning on pursuing a life career as a model. don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with that, it's just not something i am passionate about? some day i want to become a ceo like my mother as well and i want to fulfill all the duties as the best ceo. i want to show what i'm capable of, to prove people that i can stand on my own and that i am not just some lucky kid who gets to take over their parent's company. if wong yukhei doesn't accept the offer, then that spot wasn't meant for me. he should hire someone who is really passionate about modeling."

the two friends were staring at the blond boy at their table with big eyes; they both didn't expect an answer like that.

"that's tough. like, i'm not going to pretend people don't talk about you behind your back." jongho said honestly. "i've heard a lot of weird things going around; some said you had a disease which is why you declined, others said your mother's company has beef with y.u.k.o and some even went as far as to say that you're secretly a criminal and the government doesn't allow you to leave the country. crazy people, i know!"

"wow, that's-" san laughed. "as long as they can please themselves i don't really care what they have to say."

"yeah, don't listen to them. those people spreading these rumors have too much free time. you're really good at what you're doing!" wooyoung said.

"hmhm. true! every time your new pictures are released, wooyoung fanboys over them the entire da- OUCH" jongho reached to his shin, rubbing the place wooyoung had kicked.

wooyoung's eyes were deadly, jongho was going to get a good beating after san was gone.

san started laughing out loud. "a fanboy, huh? you didn't tell me you were a fan!"

wooyoung's face turned red. "i- i don't fanboy!"

"he drew your last instagram post." jongho exposed him. "that's for kicking me twice, bitch." he said to wooyoung.

"i promise it's not what you think i-", wooyoung was about to end his friend.

"i'm flattered. i'd like to see the drawing you made, though", san smirked.

"here, i have it on my phone wait-" jongho took out his phone.

"NO-"

san was sitting there enjoying whatever was going on between the two friends. he thought it would be a challenge to even start a conversation with them. he worried that they wouldn't want him around them, but now that he found out about wooyoung being a fan of him, he felt more accepted. maybe having friends again wouldn't harm him after all. the possibility of wooyoung having a crush on him made his stomach twist but in a surprisingly pleasant feeling.

on a saturday, san accidentally happened to stop by at coffeelicious.

accidentally.

he walked in and got greeted immediately by a happy wooyoung from behind the counter.

"welcome to coffelicious, would you like to order?" wooyoung said with a serious face, but then broke into a smile.

san thought he looked adorable with the baby pink shirt on and the stripped apron. "i don't know, what would you recommend?" san asked.

"oh", wooyoung frowned. "hmm. personally, i really like cookies and cream latte."

"i'll take that one", san said.

"would you like a chocolate muffin? they're really delicious", wooyoung asked as he ticked in san's order on the computer.

"if you say so, i will", san smiled at him.

"yay, the muffin is on me!" wooyoung said. "that will be 5600 won!"

"your order will soon be served", wooyoung said after the payment was done.

"i'll be there next to the window", san pointed at a table at the end of the coffee shop, next to the big window that was covered with peachy colored curtains.

"cookies and cream latte and a chocolate muffin", wooyoung placed the wooden plateau in front of san.

"thank you. are you busy right now? let's have a talk" san asked.

"oh, i mean there are not many customers left, i think i can sit down for a minute." wooyoung said hesitantly while glancing at his boss.

"don't worry, i know the owner. she's a close friend of my mom, she wouldn't mind"

"oh? you know mrs. Jeon?"

"yes, she's a sweet woman and a great boss, you don't have to worry about overworking anym- about her overworking you", san corrected himself immediately.

"she's so caring. i get to eat whatever and whenever i want, even though i keep telling her i have eaten enough, she insists i eat at least something before working. my previous boss can't relate", wooyoung said.

"really? what was your previous boss like?" san asked, pretending not to know.

. . .

after san left wooyoung's working place, he drove to the company. he greeted the staff as he walked to the elevators. once he got in, he pressed the 6th floor. he was looking at himself in the mirror of the elevator fixing his tie and hair, when he noticed a black feather, that looked familiar, at the corner. he picked it up and put it in his pocket, before the doors of the elevator opened.

san examined the feather from all angles. the feather had the same length and felt the same as his own feathers, but the pattern was different. san thought about the possibility of the feather belonging to another sheisire, but for the past twenty years, san hadn't ever met another one like him. 

maybe he was looking too much into it, maybe it wasn't even a real feather , but just some decoration for whatever shooting was happening. 

still, the feather felt real, though..

"san?" his mother walked in. san hid the feather in one of his drawers before looking up at his mother.

"we're expected at 20:15 for today's gathering. maybe it's best if you go home already so you have enough time to eat and get ready! it's a one hour drive."

"today's gathering?" san asked.

"yes, the one i told you about on thursday, remember? this occasion is really important, all the companies of the country will be present. it's a great opportunity to make some deals!" ms. choi said.

"ahh, right!" san rubbed his nape, "i completely forgot about that. i'll go home in half an hour, i have some unfinished work i need to get done with first."

his mother left him alone again. san opened the drawer where he hid the black feather, but instead of finding the one feather from before, he found two identical ones.

confused, san closed the drawer after taking out the two feathers.

“what is this..”

was it a coincidence?

or is someone targeting him?

he closed his eyes, recalling every memory when he felt like something was off.

and then he started remembering things.

during the photoshoot, when he was changing his clothes, he had found a black feather stuck between the piles of clothing, but he ignored it, thinking it had fallen from a dress or a scarf that was being used for another shooting.

when he had been walking on a night by himself, a black feather had landed right in front of him.

the memory that freaked him out most was when he remembered having seen black feathers on his balcony. he had thought they were his own, but were they really his?

san left the office and drove home a little faster than normally. 

once he arrived, he ran up the stairs towards his room and opened the door to the balcony.

no feathers this time. they must have been blown away by the wind, san thought. he decided to check anyways, maybe if he was lucky -or unlucky, he wasn't sure how to feel about this- he could find one. 

and indeed, stuck between the railings, he saw one. unlike he had thought before, it wasn't his own. it was the same one he had found at the company.

cold sweat started running down his forehead. san was never one to be afraid, but for the first time he felt fear building up in his stomach.

at the party, san tried to relax as much as possible. he didn't want to jump to conclusions without knowing what is really going on and he sure didn't want to worry his mother; the woman had gone through so much already.

san eyed the people that were present at the party, while sipping on his glass of rose wine. he recognized some faces; ceo's from all different companies, models he had seen through magazines and some models he had worked with.. others were strangers to him. 

he felt someone's eyes on him and when he turned his head, he locked eyes with a well known model. san had seen the male before at other parties and he had even taken a look at some of his new released pictures, but the two had never talked before. san felt like that would change soon, since the model was approaching him.

"choi san, right?" he asked. the black leather pants looked amazing on him, san was about to ask where he had gotten them, but decided against it since that might be weird as a first thing to say to someone you don't know. his whole black themed outfit was in contrast with san's white suit.

"that's me", san said. "you must be kim hongjoong!"

hongjoong laughed. "correct! you looked pretty lonely on your own at an empty table, so i thought i'd keep you some company."

"ahh, don't worry, i had me, myself and i to keep me good company", san said.

"oh?" hongjoong's smile dropped. "i see, uhm.. in that case i'll just go and pretend i didn't embarrass myself in front of you." he made an attempt to turn around and walk away but san stopped him.

"i was kidding, it's a pleasure to have the one and only kim hongjoong talk to me", san said.

the boy’s smile returned again. "the pleasure is mine. can i say that you look absolutely stunning in that white suit", hongjoong smirked.

what a flirt, san thought.

"i'm flattered. don't fall for me, though", san winked.

"i can't promise anything. you're the nation's favorite after all."

san held back the urge to roll his eyes. 'nation's favorite' yeah, right.

"last time i checked that position was being threatened by a certain red haired model, what did they call him again? sweet, sweet-"

"sweet strawberry angel? yeah, i hear that a lot, it's getting a little annoying", hongjoong said as he took a glass of white wine from the server.

"but you know, nothing is more annoying than having people write about you, saying that the reason of your success is because of your parents' wealth.” san could relate with that statement. hongjoong's parents were the owners of 'neotech'; the biggest technology company in the country.

"you read those articles? why would you do something as depressing as that?"

"you're telling me you don't read what people write about you?"

"nope. i already hear the things people say about me before they get published. trust me, there's nothing in those articles that i already didn't know." san chuckled.

"people walk up to you and they say those things to your face?" hongjoong asked.

"oh, no! but you know, when a rumor spreads, it goes around quickly and then i happen to hear it when i walk by and people are talking."

"ah, i see." hongjoong said. "you must have really good hearing then, being able to pick up what people around you are saying. not a lot of humans can do that."

something changed when san registered what he just heard. something about the way hongjoong was looking at him now, something about the way hongjoong was smiling brightly, but his eyes exposed him. something about the way hongjoong specifically used the word 'humans'.. the vibe between the two had shifted in less than a second.  
san bit the inner side of his cheek. don't drop your facade, he kept telling himself internally.

"san, are you secretly a werewolf?" hongjoong said in a really serious voice, but then started laughing with his own joke.

san felt like he could breathe again. he didn't know what he expected but he was sure his small discovery of today was making him paranoid.

"oh, no, hongjoong!" san said dramatically. "you found out about my secret. i must end your life now!"

hongjoong chuckled. "anyway, you're right. i should stop reading those articles."

san smiled at him, but the feeling didn't go away. he felt his inner gut telling him something was off, but san couldn't quite put his finger on it. he decided to just ignore it, it wasn't fair to hongjoong to accuse him like that.

"sorry to interrupt", a blonde boy suddenly joined the two. san had seen his face sometime when he was looking at some pictures taken of hongjoong, but he didn't know his name.

"joong, we have to go!"

"oh, really? now? i was enjoying san's company here", hongjoong pouted. "this is seonghwa, my cousin. his parents are currently abroad, so he has been staying with us for the past two years." hongjoong explained.

"nice to finally meet you, san", seonghwa smiled. "i would love to talk more, but something personal came up, we need to leave now!"

hongjoong sighed. "okay, i need to grab my coat first, let's catch up sometime, san!" he smiled.

it was way too late when san finally arrived home, but that wouldn't stop him from going out again. he was more alert than ever as he flew high up in the sky. he decided to fly back to his secret spot. he knew it wasn't a smart decision, definitely not with everything that was going on right now, but something in him told him that he would find some answers.

the smell of blood was making his stomach twist. there was another raven killed at the same place and it was the exact same arrow. san knew it wasn't the same raven, the blood smelled fresh and this time the arrow went straight through the raven's throat.

something was going on, something bad was happening and san didn't know how to react. he focused again on the sounds around him, on the scents surrounding him trying to figure out whether something seemed off.

water, air, grass, wolves, leaves, bats, even some cars from far away, nothing that san hadn't heard, seen or smelled before...

there had to be something.

he decided to fly further into the woods, something he had never done before, honestly. he would either end up finding some clue or nothing at all. it could also be the end of him, but san was ready to risk that.

san flew from tree to tree, used his black wings as a shield when he felt unsafe and he moved forward without making a sound.

he didn't know for how long he had been in the woods and much to his disappointment, he had seen nothing that looked abnormal. his body was slowly getting tired and to be honest, san wanted to sleep so badly. he was about to fly back when he suddenly saw something fly above him. 

san might have found that abnormal thing he was looking for.

he picked up the scent of the flying creature -which smelled strangely familiar - and started his pursuit.

san couldn't believe his own eyes at first, when he saw black wings, similar to his ones attached to a human body.

he couldn't lose this one. san had to know for sure if it was another sheisire.

the other sheisire must have noticed san following him because they started flying faster, but san was also fast. 

all of a sudden the sheisire took a turn and flew to the surface. without thinking san flew after him and before he realized what was happening and react on time, he was caught in a net.

san cursed in his head. he should've known this would happen. he was so focused on catching the latter, he had run into their trap. san looked up at the sheisire in front of him. he too, was wearing a facemask and a hat, but his red eyes were clearly visible. behind him, another pair of black wings appeared. this one was smaller than the first one, but his face was also covered with a black mask.

"finally, i started to get tired of running after you", the shorter spoke.

that voice.

san was sure he knew it. if only he could see his face...

the two sheisires then took off their hats and masks.

"YOU?"

"we've met before", hongjoong said while shaking his head a bit to get his hair back in place.

"what the actual fuck??" san took off his own mask.

"please don't be mad! we don't want to harm you or anything!" hongjoong said.

"what is wrong with you? if you knew about me, why didn't you say anything? and why the fucking net?"

"we figured out you might be angry at us, so the net is basically to keep you from killing us. before you start getting mad again, this was all hongjoong's idea!" seonghwa said.

hongjoong moved towards the net and took it off of san.

"we couldn't just walk up to you and be like 'hey san, are you a sheisire?' what if you weren’t one? that could've gone totally wrong!" hongjoong said as he helped san getting up.

"actually yes you could have done that instead of all of this" san scoffed.

"we did drop you a lot of hints, though. i thought you would understand.." hongjoong muttered.

the feathers,.. the raven at his hidden spot..

"that was you?? why would you do that", san wanted to scream at the two. he couldn’t understand why they would kill an animal just to get his attention. there are so many other ways.

"oh, please! it's not a big of a deal?"

"not a big deal? What kind of- that's still not acceptable, hongjoong.”

"chill dude", hongjoong said, looking at him weirdly. "it's not like i committed a crime or something."

"not a big deal? do you not feel anything at all?” san couldn't believe it. the fact that hongjoong didn't seem to find it a big deal really bothered him. 

"how did you find out about me?"

"well, we come here once in a while and we happened to catch a scent. we followed and it lead us to your secret place. and then we tried to get in touch with you, but we weren't sure who you were. i mean, you have blond hair in your daily life and seeing you with black hair was just confusing." seonghwa explained.

san touched his hair and then he looked at the pair.

hongjoong had still his red hair and seonghwa was blond as well.

"your hair doesn't change when you turn into a sheisire?" san asked.

"nope”, seonghwa said.

“but.. why?” san thought he knew everything there was to know about his own kind, but apparently he didn’t. 

“we don’t know. must be something within your family I guess? but like,.. do you understand why we were confused now?" hongjoong said.

san nodded slowly.

that's not the only thing san noticed that was different from him.

"why are your marks so different?" he asked.

“i guess everyone has their own unique mark. every family has their own mark.”

san was about to lose his mind.

"i can't believe you two are sheisires.." san said. "i really thought i was the only one.."

"oh, honey, no! don't get me wrong, we're still the minority within the dratures, but there are more of us than you think." hongjoong told him.

"have you seen them?" san asked.

"to be honest, i haven't seen any besides you and seonghwa."

"what about other dratures? i mean the real ones.."

"uh, yeah, like my mom?" hongjoong chuckled.

"oh, so your mom is the drature.." san said, more to himself. "must be nice though, having a family with dratures."

"what do you mean?" hongjoong asked.

san pointed at seonghwa. "one of his parents must be a drature as well, right? so you either have an aunt or an uncle who is also a drature."

"oh, well.. yes, one of seonghwa's parents is a drature obviously.. but seonghwa isn't really my cousin."

"i am extremely confused right now", san said in all honesty.

"i met seonghwa two years ago. he lived on his own. seonghwa had been a foster since he was nine years old. when he turned 18 he had to live on his own, so when i met him and i learned about his secret, i asked my parents if he could move in with us."

"what happened to your parents?" san asked.

"honestly, i don't know. one day i woke up and i was all alone.. all i remember is the police coming in and sending me to a foster house.." seonghwa spoke this time.

“i’m sorry for that”, san said.

“what about you?” hongjoong said. “is ms. choi a sheisire?” hongjoong asked. 

“no” san said “..my dad was one..” 

“oh..i- i’m sorry”, hongjoong apologized. 

"it's fine." san said. was he really sorry, though? the red haired boy confused him... even though san thought that hongjoong was the one who did the killing of these birds, he still felt like something was off. hongjoong sure must have had blood on his hands or at least the metallic smell of the arrows, but no matter how hard he tried, hongjoong didn't smell like blood and metal at all neither did seonghwa. san shook the thought off. he must have cleaned himself after committing such a dirty work. "i've had enough of this night, think i'll return home.. and so should you two." 

"yes, let's hang out tomorrow at your secret spot!" hongjoong proposed.

san ignored him and just flew away. 

seonghwa looked with a questioning look at hongjoong, who only lifted up his shoulders. 

"let's just return back home." hongjoong then said.

"hmm, okay" seonghwa agreed.

"joong, am i going crazy or do you smell blood too?" seongwha then asked right before they were ready to fly away.

"we're at an abandonned place, somewhere in the woods", hongjoong shrugged. "of course you're gonna smell blood. let's go!" 

seonghwa decided to not go further into it and followed hongjoong.

* * *

wooyoung was deeply thinking about everything that had happened the past few weeks. he couldn’t let go of the creature that had appeared. wooyoung dreamed about the creature every night and sometimes he woke up, feeling it’s presence strongly. he wanted to meet him one more time, to thank him for saving him that night. but wooyoung barely had clear memories of the creature. sometimes he even doubted if it was real or had it all been a dream, but that wouldn’t explain the scratch on his arm or the fact that he somehow made it home when he had passed out. wooyoung needed answers. 

on a sunday evening, wooyoung decided to return to the place he swore to himself to avoid. he walked down the familiar road, crossed the fense, carefully this time and ran the same path he had taken when he was being chased. he tried to suppress the anxious feelings he was getting from the place. he was on a mission, he reminded himself. 

he saw the wall that had blocked his path and then suddenly he remembered everything clearly. everything that had happened was playing in his mind like a video recording. he saw himself standing defenseless as he was trembling in fear. he saw the criminals walking towards him with their sticks and chains… that’s it. wooyoung looked around the place and behind a carton box he noticed the shimmering of the metal sticks and chains. 

“i knew it”, wooyoung whispered. he wasn’t crazy, he wasn’t delusional, it really had happened. wooyoung needed more proof . 

he looked at the container against the wall. the image of the sheisire standing there crossed his mind. wooyoung climbed on the container, hoping to find some sort of confirmation. 

footprints… those must belong to the creature. that wasn’t enough, though. those footprints could belong to anyone, so those weren’t evidence.

but maybe the black feather that was stuck under a steel pipe could lead him somewhere. 

wooyoung tried to sneek in without making any sound, but failed completely. “where were you?” 

“granny”, wooyoung smiled innocently. “i was out.”

“wooyoung. what did we tell you about leaving the house?” she said sternly. 

wooyoung sighed. “oh, please. you guys never stopped me from going outside, why now?” 

“we talked about this, wooyoung! we don’t want you to get hurt! you suddenly appear at 3am at the door, completely knocked out and we have no idea who or what brought you home. AND you won’t let us go to the police to report this case. we are worried about you!”

“there is nothing to report! i just had a bad day at work but i have quit that job and started a new one, a better one, so i do not understand why you two are treating me like a 5 year old!” 

“you’re a student, you shouldn’t even be working. we will pay for your college but please do-“

“with what money?” wooyoung interrupted her. “grandpa’s shop is not going well and neither is your florist shop.”

“ohmygod”, wooyoung couldn’t believe what he had just said. “granny, I am so sorry i didn’t mean to i-“

“dinner is at seven.” his grandmother returned to the kitchen without glancing at him. 

dinner was unusually quiet. even mr. jung had noticed the cold atmosphere. he tried to crack a joke in between, but that didn’t cheer up the mood either. 

when everyone was done eating, mrs. jung cleaned up the table. while she was doing the dishes, she thought of her only grandson and she felt bad for not being able to raise him in wealth. when her daughter had gotten ill, she couldn’t raise him anymore. after wooyoung had turned 13, his mother passed away. He had lived with his father for two years before moving in with his grandparents. Mrs. jung jumped up a little when she felt someone hugging her. 

“woo, what are you doing, dear?” she asked. 

“I’m so sorry, I really didn’t mean any of the things that I said earlier. i know you and grandpa want the best for me and trust me I appreciate that. I promise I will be careful from now on and I won’t work past 8pm.” 

The older woman laughed at him. 

“I just want you to be safe, woo. I’d never forgive myself if something would happen to you!”

“I know, I love you!”

That night, wooyoung couldn’t fall asleep. he was too busy, trying to figure everything out, to finish the puzzle that has been driving him crazy for weeks. He searched through the same pages of the book, he checked the same sites over and over again, hoping to find any new information that he had missed before. Even though, his eyes were constantly closing, wooyoung really didn’t want to sleep. He kept examining the feather he had found. He wondered if it might have been a feather of some bird that happened to fly over that spot, but the feather was too big to be the feather of a raven, the edges were sharp and they all followed the same pattern. 

Then his eyes fell on a picture on one of the pages of the book. A beautiful, white feather that looked identical to the one wooyoung was holding. That was it, the proof that everything that had happened was real. He had the proof in his own hands. The next thing on wooyoung’s list was to find the creature. But how was he supposed to do that? Wooyoung wondered if it could be someone close to him.  
If they can transform into humans, they must live among us, wooyoung thought. At that moment he realized he would have to be even more careful. Wooyoung looked around, thinking about how to find the sheisire. He glanced at the picture of him and jongho on the wall and then it hit him; jongho’s grandfather. He was the one that could help him. 

The next day, wooyoung put his plan into action. 

“Room 42 of the 5th floor”, the woman at the reception told him. Wooyoung thanked her before walking towards the elevators and once he reached the 5th floor, he started looking for the number 42. 

“Nooo, you idiot! Don’t give it to her, she’s lying to you”, Wooyoung heard Mr. Choi yell at the tv. 

“Hello, Mr. Choi”, Wooyoung smiled as he entered the room. Only then the older man noticed the younger’s presence. 

“Oh? Wooyoung, what are you doing here?” the man asked, “come in, son!”

Wooyoung took place on the chair next to the bed. “How have you been, mr. choi?” 

“me? Fine as usual! Except for the fact that the doctors won’t let me leave. I don’t understand, I am strong enough, why can’t I go home?” he sighed, while grabbing an apple and breaking it in two and offering wooyoung a piece. “apple?”

“thank you”, wooyoung laughed at the thought that Jongho resembled his grandpa a lot. 

“how’s school?”

“it’s okay.. the courses are getting more difficult, but it’ll be fine”

“what about jongho? Is he still sleeping in every class?”

“no”, wooyoung laughed. “he’s been paying attention lately.”

“good for him, I told him I would beat his ass if he didn’t get good grades.” 

“he told me about that”, wooyoung laughed.

"so, what brings you here!" "i wanted to see how you're doing", wooyoung said. "that's kind of you", mr. choi started. "but i've known you for a while and i know that whenever you're nervous you play with your bracelet. so tell me, what's the matter?" wooyoung cursed in his head for not being good at hiding his emotions. “mr. choi- uhm, i actually wanted to ask you something.” wooyoung started. 

“what is it”, mr. Choi asked. 

“jongho told me about- uhm, well i'm actually working on this project for art class and- i was wondering if, maybe you-“

“GRAMPAA, stOP messaging me every minutes that you need chocolade! The nurses literally told you that sugar is- woo?” 

“speaking of the devil, there he is”, mr. choi joked. 

“haha. so funny, i forgot to laugh.” jongho said rolling his eyes. 

“oh, someone’s mad, what’s the matter did that girl reject you again?” mr. choi said and burst out laughing, wooyoung laughed along as well. 

“you just got roasted by your own grandpa.”

“dear lord give me strength. I hate you two.” jongho exhaled. “what are you doing here? if i knew you’d visit grampa I’d come and pick you up.”

“I- i just wanted to ask a couple of questions about… about my project for art class.”

“ah yes, he’s working on drawing those weird creatures that you always talked about”, jongho said, while taking out a box of chocolate. 

mr. choi looked up with big eyes at the box. “you said no chocolate?” 

“well yes, no chocolate for YOU, yes chocolate for ME. also focus! wooyoung needs your help” jongho took the other chair across the room and placed it next to wooyoung. “but don’t mind me though, i’ll be enoying my chocolate while you two talk about dratures and stuff.”

mr. choi looked up at wooyoung when he heard the name of the creature. “dratures.. why?” he asked, looking at wooyoung suspiciously. 

“oh, well uhm. i’m working on this project for art class. We have to draw mythological creatures and I chose this topic.” wooyoung said. 

“ah.. I see”, he was looking at wooyoung as if he was trying to read the truth in his eyes. “what do you want to know about them?” mr. choi asked.

“I thought that maybe if I know everything about them, it would make my work more outstanding..” wooyoung really prayed his lies were somewhat believable.

“hmm. Okay.”

“where do I even start.. what you need to know is that dratures resemble humans a lot, like physically and also emotionally. Which is why it is almost impossible to tell them apart from humans. They behave, live and feel like all of us. 

When they transform, however, their wings are visible and their family mark is shown on their chest. Dratures have a lower body temperature than humans. they’re not affected by hot or cold temperatures, they do feel it, but it doesn’t bother them. 

Another thing that differs them from humans, it the fact that they can hear much better than humans, they can pick up frequencies that we cannot. They can see further than a regular human can and smell scents from a far distance away.”

“sooo…they’re like the better versions of humans”, jongho chuckled. 

“I wouldn’t agree on that.” Mr. choi spoke. “let me tell you something about their history. Long ago there was a big war going on. It all started when the Almighty King received the moonstone as a present. A stone that holds enough power to control an entire population. Unfortunately, the stone got stolen and no one knows where it has been ever since. There was so much going on during that time, but the worst partof the history takes place when the Almighty King was murdered. Ever since there has been corruption within the community. The Elite is the most hated group within them.”

“The Elite?” wooyoung asked. 

“Right, I forgot to explain. Within the dratures, you have different groups. They’re divided by the color of their wings. The lowest rank is the 7th rank. Their wings are a dark grey color. So the brighter your wings, the higher your rank. The first rank belongs to the kingdom, the Elite. Their wings are bright and whiter than snow. The Elite are very powerful and not everyone is pleased with them. After the King died there have been a lot of dratures who have tried to take over the throne.” 

“That’s… that’s tough.” wooyoung said and jongho nodded in agreement. 

“but.. what about the dratures with the black wings?” wooyoung asked. 

“the sheisires… probably the group that is hated more than the Elite. A sheisire is part human part drature. when two dratures from the same rank mate, their newborn has the same wings as them, obviously. When two dratures from different ranks mate, the darker shade is dominant so there’s a bigger chance of the kid having the color of the lower rank, but there’s also a chance their wings have the lighter shade. However, when a drature and a human mate, the wings of the newborn turn black, no matter what color the wings of the drature were.

Dratures believe that sheisires are evil and sheisires were never accepted into the community. when the King was murdered, they blamed it on them and since then sheisires have been hiding from everyone. There are also rumors that they stole the moonstone, but of course those are only rumors.”

There were a lot of questions wooyoung wanted to ask, but he didn’t know how to. Should he tell him that he had seen one? Should he keep it all to himself after hearing that the creature he had seen is considered to be evil? Wooyoung was too scared to say anything right now. He wanted answers but at the same time, he felt like he wasn’t ready for it yet. 

“Thank you, mr. Choi. I think I should go now, my grandmother is probably worried about me now.” Wooyoung said. 

“Oh, no problem! You should visit often and- JONGHO”

The poor brown haired boy almost dropped his box of chocolate when his grandpa suddenly called his name. 

“I’m starting to think you want to cause me a heart attack so I can be with you in this hospital. You know that’s not really how you show people you love them, right?” Jongho said annoyed. 

“stop being dramatic. And i just realized I don’t have any more water left, can you go get me some at the canteen?” 

jongho let out the most dramatic sigh before standing up. “I’m such a great grandson, I swear.” 

Wooyoung shook his head at his friend and started packing up. 

“wooyoung”, mr. choi suddenly called him. 

“yes, mr. Choi?”

“be honest with me. You don’t have a project for art class.” He said. 

wooyoung froze. “i-“

“you have seen one, right.”

Wooyoung kept quiet. He didn’t even know what to answer, since he was so unsure of everything. 

“it’s okay to be scared. No one has warned you about this. I totally understand.” The older man smiled at him. 

Wooyoung didn’t know how to answer, however, there was no point in lying. if jongho’s grandpa had really seen one like jongho mentioned, he could help him with this. 

“i think i did… I’m not sure, though.. I feel like I have dreamt it all… and nothing makes sense anymore..” he said quietly. 

“I know, son. this world is full of secrets we still have to discover. And sometimes when we do, we wish we never had known about them.”

“you’re going to want to figure out what you have seen, whether it is real or just your hallucination. And then you’ll enter a state of denial. Wishing everything you found out was just a bad dream. Eventually you’ll learn to accept it, but it might take time. It can turn into something beautiful, but you will also have to be careful. you will hear and see a lot of things through this journey. Don’t believe everything you hear and keep in mind that what might look good at first sight can be bad and what people call bad can be good.” "i'm trying to figure this all out." wooyoung admitted. "does jongho know?" wooyoung shook his head. "i want to be sure about all of this before i tell him. but he told me you said to have seen one as well? which is why i thought i should talk to you ab-" 

wooyoung got interrupted by the door. "SO i came across this nice nurse who gave me this water bottle and after i told her where i was going, she told me she had recently refilled your fridge. why are you doing this to me", jongho rattled. "she did?" mr. choi asked. "ah, yes i forgot. i'm sorry" mr. choi laughed. 

"you're really not. also woo, better message me when you get home." "you always ask me to text you when i get home. that's so cuuute", wooyoung mocked him. "bitch. i'm just worried about your dumb ass." "language", mr. choi hit him on the head. "have a safe trip home, wooyoung. and watch out from the dangers." mr. choi said. "what dangers? it's like six in the afternoon." jongho said. wooyoung only laughed. "thank you, mr. choi! see you tomorrow, jongho!" 

San’s phone has been going off for the past two.. no three hours. Hongjoong had the great idea to start a groupchat and the two have been messaging him constantly. 

“yall! Aren’t you two like living under the same roof? Why are you blowing up my phone?” san sent them a voice record. 

He received one from hongjoong immediately. “seonghwa is downstairs and I’m too lazy to leave my bed.”

Another voice message followed from seonghwa. “I’m downstairs and I don’t want to leave my couch.” 

San rolled his eyes at the two even though they couldn’t see him. 

San didn’t know whether he really enjoyed this friendship though. The fact hongjoong killed those ravens still bothered him. How could he be so heartless? Hongjoong didn’t look like someone who would kill for fun at all, which confused him even more. 

When san arrived at the spot, seonghwa and hongjoong were already there. 

“You finally came”, seonghwa said right away. 

San nodded and walked towards them. Since the two had transformed back into their human form, san decided to do so as well, his wings slowly disappearing and his eyes returning brown again. 

San’s nostrils caught an unpleasant scent, a scent he had smelled before. In no time his wings appeared again and San sped to the tree where the ravens had been killed. 

Another one. The arrow straight in the heart. 

San started to get furious. Before he could say anything he heard hongjoong and seongwha behind him.  
“what the hell is your problem, hongjoong???” he growled in anger. The two boys had transformed into sheisires again. 

“what are you talking ab- EWW WHAT IS THAT!” 

“Isn’t this what you have been doing to get my attention? You got it now, why are you still doing this?”

“Me??? What the fuck? Why would I ever do this?” Hongjoong yelled. 

“That’s a little low of you, assuming that we would kill animals just because we put you in a trap, San. We’re not monsters.” Seonghwa said offended. 

“But… But you said that you have been dropping hints for me i- I thought you did this!” 

“Yeah. We left feathers at your company.. heck we would never kill a fucking bird for your attention, what even..” hongjoong was obviously annoyed. San understood why the two were pissed off. He had accused them of killing an animal, but the two weren’t even aware of what was going on. 

“Do you always jump to conclusions like that without knowing anything?” hongjoong spat. 

“I’m sorry, okay?” San apologized. “But you can’t blame me for this. I’ve been visiting this place since I was 13 and all of a sudden dead ravens stuck to a tree start appearing, right when you told me you have been dropping these “hints” for me.” 

“wait”, seonghwa interrupted hongjoong before he could say anything. “this isn’t the first time?” 

“no, this is the third time it has happened. How did you not smell the blood when you first started following me?” 

“I don’t know? I guess we thought it was natural..” hongjoong answered. 

“guys.. if this has happened before that means.. either someone really enjoys killing animals and leave them behind like this… or .. or someone is purposely trying to let you know they know about us!” seonghwa said. 

san suddenly felt like he was being watched from everywhere. He felt an unpleasant feeling in his stomach. Something dangerous was approaching them and in that second san knew he really wasn’t as safe as he had thought before. 

“JOONG!” san was able to push hongjoong away in time right before an arrow had struck him. However the shaft scoured over his left arm when it flew past them and hit another tree instead. 

“Oh god!!” hongjoong was looking at san’s bleeding arm with big eyes. 

Seonghwa growled in anger and flew up in the sky. He looked around the place to catch whoever had just threatened to take the life of his brother. When he looked closely from where the arrow had been shot, he saw there was a thread attached from where hongjoong was standing to a bow hidden in the bushes. 

Someone had set a trap for them. 

Someone knew about them and they were in big danger. 

Seonghwa flew back to the surface and saw hongjoong tapping san’s wound with his face mask (since none of them had any other fabric to use) as an attempt to make it stop bleeding. 

“it was a trap”, seongwha said. “someone expected us here again. We have to leave this place and never return. Or at least not until we know who is after us. Can you bear the pain till you fly home?” 

San nodded. “I’m fine. Thank you. And I’m sorry for accusing you guy-“

“it’s fine, san! Let’s focus on this problem right now. Someone’s trying to kill us.” Hongjoong said. 

“I think it’s best for us if we return home. Do you want us to drop you off?” seonghwa asked. 

San shook his head. “no, let’s not be suspicious. Return home safely and text me when you guys are safe. We’ll see each other soon.” He put on his leather face mask and spread his wings. The other two did the same thing, except for hongjoong couldn’t put on his face mask since it was covered in san’s blood. The three flew up high in the sky and then parted ways.

Once again, wooyoung had a hard time falling asleep. one of the reasons being him overthinking everything that has been happening lately. Another reason being the loud noises coming from his garage, which was under wooyoung’s balcony. 

Wooyoung put on a random hoodie and his shoes and walked outside. 

“grampa, what are you doing? It’s like two in the morning”, wooyoung yawned. 

“woo, why aren’t you asleep? did i wake you up?” his grandfather stopped working on a bike and rubbed his nape. 

The old man looked really tired and wooyoung hated to see him like that. Exhausted and overworking to maintain his little family. 

“why are you working? Can’t you finish that tomorrow?”

“No.. a customer came in and told me they needed this bike repaired by tomorrow”, the older man answered. 

“geez. Can’t they be patient? This is damaging your health”, wooyoung sighed. 

“it’s okay, son! They’re paying me a good amount of money! And look, I’m almost done!”

“can I at least help?” 

“no, it’s fine! Go back to sleep, you have school tomorrow!”

“please let me do something to help!” wooyoung begged. 

“wooyoung, it’s not nece-“

“let me take out the trash? It’s the least I can do!”

“but I can do that in the morning and it’s really late outside, wooyoung.” Mr. jung didn’t want to bring up the past events from when wooyoung was unconscious in front of their doorstep around this hour, but wooyoung could tell what he was referring to and he wanted to prove them that he was safe. 

“the containers are literally a few meters across the street. It’s okay I’ll do it!” 

Wooyoung grabbed the bags at the corner and walked down the street. He crossed the street and the threw the bags away. He then wanted to cross the road to return back home, when all of a sudden a car appeared riding at a high speed that probably wasn’t even allowed in this neighbourhood. Every part of him screamed to move away but he couldn’t move. He started having flashbacks from that moment when he felt helpless and anxious. 

The next thing wooyoung saw was the car speeding past him and he suddenly found himself at the side of the road. Only then he became aware of two strong arms around him, holding him safely. The arms were gone and wooyoung turned around immediately, facing the one and only creature that he couldn’t stop thinking about for the past weeks… he was now standing in front of him. 

His wings were majestic, the black tattoo was even more visible on his pale skin. This time, however, the creature was covering his face. 

“Wait!” 

The creature turned around and looked back at wooyoung. 

Wooyoung opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. 

“You- you’re real..” he whispered. 

He only received a small nod back. 

“thank you.. for saving me twice.” Wooyoung said looking down first. Honestly his heart was beating fast and his breathing was uneven, but he wasn’t as scared as he expected himself to be. 

He then looked up in his red eyes and gave him a small smile. And then he noticed his left arm was bleeding. 

“did I cause that?” he asked carefully. 

The creature shook his head slightly. 

“okay”, wooyoung breathed relieved. Otherwise he would have felt really guilty. 

There was a small moment of silence and then wooyoung asked. “will I see you again?”

The creature suddenly appeared in front of him and brought his right hand to wooyoung’s face, caressing his cheek. For some reason, wooyoung didn’t expect his hand to feel so cold against his heated face, sending a shiver through his spine, at the same time though, his touch felt so soft. 

And then, in that split second when wooyoung closed his eyes to enjoy the touch, he disappeared as if everything that had just happened was only a dream, but this time wooyoung felt like they would meet again soon. 

“boo.”

“fuck off”, wooyoung pushed jongho’s face away from his ear. 

“what’s the matter, you grumpy cat? It’s noon and you’re still half asleep.” jongho said while taking a bite from his apple.

“it’s not my fault that school starts so early okay?” wooyoung whined.

“I repeat”, jongho said in a serious tone. “it’s noon.” 

“whatever let me sleep.” 

“alright, but like.. san is coming this way so don’t blame me when he sees your sleeping face with drool on your chi-“ that’s all it took for wooyoung to jump up wide awake and clean his face with a tissue that he always carried with him. 

“hey there, jongho”, he smiled at the younger and then he looked at wooyoung. “good morning, sleeping beauty” he winked. Wooyoung felt his cheeks heat up and he wished he could dig a hole and jump in it from embarrassment. 

Jongho greeted him back and soon the two were in a deep conversation about videogames and some other dumb stuff. 

“I have an idea”, jongho started. “since wooyoung can’t play videogames to save a life and thus I don’t have actual competition-“

“-excuse you???” wooyoung said offended (san thought it was adorable). 

“shush. As i was saying, would you like to come over Friday night at Woo’s place so we can play some videogames?”

San looked at wooyoung. “I mean. I wouldn’t mind. Would you?” 

Wooyoung got lost for a second. San’s eyes were truly captivating. “N-no. I’ll send you my address.” 

“thanks”, he smiled, showing his dimples, secretly already knowing where the boy lived. 

“excuse me, guys! I have some things to do. I’ll be right back!” jongho suddenly said and stood up from his chair. The two boys at the table looked at him as he approached a girl. 

“that’s Ryujin. Her and jongho have a.. special relationship.” Wooyoung explained. 

“special?” san asked.

“yeah. I don’t know how to explain. They both like each other but then they, don’t? and it’s confusing.” Wooyoung brushed it off. 

“what happened to your arm.” Wooyoung asked when he noticed his left arm wrapped in bandage. 

San pulled his sleeve over the bandage. “I cut myself while sorting some papers at the company.” He answered quickly. Maybe a little too quickly for it to be believable, but wooyoung just nodded and didn’t pay more attention to it. 

Another exhausting day was over and wooyoung wanted nothing more but to lay in bed and get some good sleep. 

But he didn’t want to sleep. 

At school he tried his best to focus on the subject that were being taught to distract himself from the accident of the previous night, but right now… all he could think of was the black haired creature with the black wings. The creature called a drature, a sheisire. 

He really longed to see him again. If only he could know who it was. The fact that it could be someone close to him or someone that he knew drove him crazy. He was also scared. Of everything. He sure couldn’t be the only one. How many of them were actually out there? So many questions running through his head. 

wooyoung took a deep breath. 02:35 it said on his watch. He exhaled deeply and opened the door to his balcony. 

the cold immediately hitting his face, but wooyoung was still hoping that he would show up. He was certain that the sheisire had brought him home that one night and he had saved him last night again. the sheisire knew where he lived for sure and somehow that actually made him feel safe. 

after wating for a while in the cold, he thought that maybe he was delusional and he should return to bed, but then a wind breeze passed him and at the corner, the now familiar black wings closed behind the body of a human. 

wooyoung was staring at him, fascinated by the fact that a creature like that was real. 

“i had a feeling you would show up”, he said. 

the sheisire didn’t say anything. 

“can you- like- I don’t mean to offend you or.. but uhm, can you actually talk?” wooyoung asked. 

“it’s totally okay if you don’t want to I just- I was wondering if…”

The sheisire let out a laugh. The face mask muffled the sound a little though. 

“of course i can, i am part human after all, aren’t i.” 

Wooyoung definitely didn’t expect the low husky voice coming from the sheisire, which honestly made him feel some type of way. 

“oh”, is all wooyoung could say. 

“i know i already thanked you yesterday but-“

“stop”

“sorry?” wooyoung asked confused. 

“you keep thanking me. you don't have to. but you might want to get a blanket or a sweater. i can tell you're freezing.” the sheisire said. 

he was right, wooyoung was really cold, but he didn’t want to leave, because he feared that the drature might leave. 

as if he knew what wooyoung was thinking he said. “don’t worry. I’ll be here waiting.”

“o-okay”, wooyoung muttered. 

wooyoung wanted to ask whether the other wanted one as well since he was shirtless but then he remembered learning that dratures are not affected by the cold. 

“it might sound weird but.. I feel like you’re always watching over me? or I’m just delusional.” 

“you’re not.” was all that he said. 

wooyoung couldn’t hide a little smile. 

the sheisire wanted to smile back, the drature hidden behind that mask wanted to take off his mask and hold the other boy in his arms. the creature, being no one other than san. 

“why are you not afraid of me?” he asked. 

wooyoung took a deep breath and tried to calm his beating heart. he knew dratures have sharp hearing and he was sure the sheisire could hear his beating heart. “honestly, I am afraid. I don’t know what exactly you are, where you come from or.. or if there are other creatures out there that I thought were not real”, wooyoung said. “… but you saved my life twice already. I don’t think you’ll hurt me, right?” 

san shrugged. “of course not.” 

wooyoung was honestly tired, his eyes were closing and san started noticing it too. 

“go to sleep, you’re sleep deprived.” He said. 

“i’m fine, though”, wooyoung lied. 

“we’ll see each other again.” san said. “i’ll be here tomorrow at the same hour.” 

that’s something wooyoung could get behind. 

“alright. I’ll be waiting” he said and opened the door to his room again. “so, good night?” 

San smirked, even though wooyoung couldn’t see it from the mask. “good night, wooyoung!”

it took wooyoung two seconds to realize what the sheisire had said. 

“wait, you know my name?” 

the sheisire spread his wings and flew away, leaving a confused ( and a little flustered) wooyoung behind. 

\- -

it was relaxing, the sunrays hitting his skin from the window, the calming sound of the water running as he was taking a bath and the scent of fresh flower leaves drifting in the bathtub. He inhaled and exhaled slowly, enjoying every second in this present moment. 

he heard someone clear his throat behind him. “i apologize for disturbing your precious time, your majesty, but i just wanted to let you know that dinner will soon be ready..”

He rolled his eyes at the speaker. 

“.. and so I was wondering if you’d get your ass out of that tub so I can give you this dumb ass towel and then I can go back to sleeping.”

“you know, you’re actually the worst maid ever, mingi.” he said and stepped out of the bathtub. He used his wings to cover himself while mingi handed him the towel. 

After he wrapped the towel around his waist he stretched his wings and used another towel to dry his hair. 

“ohmygod”, mingi whispered. “they amaze me every time.”

“god, mingi. Ever since we’ve known each other, you’ve been telling me that. Stop it, you have wings too!"

“It’s not my fault yours are so.. so pleasing to look at, so bright..”

"when's your boyfriend coming over?" he said, grapping another towel to dry his hair. he wasn't bothered by the fact that we was basically naked, while someone else was in the bathroom. mingi worked like his personal assistant, but everyone knew the two were just really close friends, which is why mingi chose the job instead of giving it to a lower rank. besides, the prince never asked anything from him anyway.

"yunho is not my boyfriend!"

“yet. no, you just hug each other all the time, cuddle during movies while I’m casually third wheeling. Don’t get me started on the looks you two share. Why don’t you just tell him how you feel?”

mingi kept quiet. “i really love him..you know i do. and honestly i- i can’t imagine my life with anyone else.”

“oh, mingi..”

“but I can’t be with him when he’s a 5th rank, while I’m a second rank. I don’t want him to go through life with people looking down on him. You know how these higher ups are. i mean i don't mind i don't care about ranks.. but he does.”

the prince felt bad. he cared alot about his friends and he hated to their happiness being affected because of this stupid rule of ranks. which was also one of the reasons why he had to accomplish his goal before the big day.

“listen to me. when i become the king, i promise you, no one will ever look down on you, or yunho.”

mingi started chucking. “king yeosang. not gonna lie, it suits you.” 

yeosang threw his towel that he used to dry his hair at his friend’s face. “can you help me clean my wings?” 

“of course, my king. It’s my pleasure to clean the elite’s wings.”

“will you stop?”

“okay, okay, i’m sorry”, Mingi laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i finally took the time to update! happy new year everyone and i wish you all blessings and happiness! i hope you enjoy this long chapter! i apologize for grammatical errors, english is not my first language. thank you for reading my story, i love you


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